Our History

Expansion Of The Perisher-Smiggin Holes Area

One of the many publications of the history of skiing in Australia is one by Pat & John Davis showing the efforts made to advance skiing in the Perisher-Smiggin Holes area separate from Charlottes Pass and the old Hotel Kosciuszko. The Davis's started their involvement with skiing in the late 1940s and made visits during the early 50s to Charlottes Pass from the old Hotel Kosciuszko (Sponars).

In 1952 the first 2 Perisher lodges were built - Telemark & Snow Revellers.Johnny Abbottsmith used a dog sleigh for transport from Smiggins, which was replaced with motorised units the following year.

At Charlottes in 1955 the Davis's met KAC founders Dick Gilkes, Paul Reader and Karl Raymond among other very early skiers. The following year they met Sveere Kaaten, a Norwegian who came to Australia in 1928 and was an Alpine Champion skier here in the early 1930s. After the war in 1946 he was part of the Australian combined services team who finished up beating the Norwegian team.

At this point Perisher contained 6 ski lodges and he convinced the Davis's to turn their attention from Chalet skiing to live and work in Perisher-Smiggins for the next couple of decades.

K. G. Murray built his own lodge in 1957. A Rope Tow was constructed by Sveere Kaaten and the Village Tow between Kandahar & Snow Revellers was built by Johnny Abbottsmith.

With the formation of Kosciuszko Thredbo Ltd. by Lend Lease in 1958 and the development in Perisher by Ken Murray and friends, things really started to move including the building of the Sundeck Hotel and first T-bar.

The Kosciuszko State Park Trust (KSPT) was by then receiving many requests for lodge sites in Perisher/Smiggin Holes and introduced their Planned Development scheme also in 1958.

Those granted a lease in Stage 1 of the plan, from around Sundeck out to the Yarrandoo Lodge site, included our near neighbours Cronulla, Hus-Ski, Canberra, Dianella, Telemark 2 and Alexandra.

Mirrabooka was one of several leases granted at this time.

How Mirrabooka Came About

Site Selection

David Vincent carried out surveys in the Perisher area for presentation to the Minister of Lands and carved the lot number 100 into a tree some time in 1958/9.

The survey plan we have on file and the one identifying the lot on our latest lease as Lot 100 in deposited plan 756697 - at Perisher Valley - Local Government area Snowy River - Parish of Guthega - County of Wallace - (formerly known as portion 100) Title Diagram Crown Plan 5995.1604. A copy of this plan is shown below.

The survey mark retrieved and restored by

Garth Purdy in 2012 for mounting in the lodge.

The story we have of how this came about was when Ron Hamblen, whilst enjoying a number of after ski drinks at Sundeck from large bottles with index finger loops, was asked how Mirrabooka got the best site in the valley.

The Lands Department were drawing up the map for the various lodge sites in Perisher Valley and purposely left out a site for themselves. The plan was presented to the Minister for his approval. The Minister advised he was aware that there were some members of staff at the Lands Dept who had helped form a ski club and wanted to know which lot was theirs. Oh! They didn't have one. Well they had better get one and returned the plan.

Ron wasn't sure if it took 30 seconds or 30 minutes to rub out a tree and put in the current site. On representation the plan was approved by the Minister.

Believe it or not!

The Formation Of Mirrabooka Club

1959 -Two independent groups of enthusiastic skiers, from the Sydney & Goulburn offices of the Lands Department, were considering the formation of a club. Somehow they learnt of each others approach, combined and met on the Bank Holiday weekend of this year at the Sundeck Hotel to discuss building their own lodge.

The meeting comprised: -

Ernie & Lorna Phillips & Barry Hannan of the Sydney office and Ross Philip, Jim Govan, Ron & Gwen Hamblen from Goulburn.

1960 - On this year's Easter weekend, Ernie & Lorna went down and staked a claim on the "best site in Perisher", great view facing north, downhill to tows and downhill from the "Deck". They chose lot 100 overlooking the first Telemark lodge - an area 33m x 28m (924m²).

The original road to North Perisher is shown running through the top of the Mirrabooka site

and was relocated shortly before the site was leased to us, the remaining stumpy end

becoming the convenient access to our front door.

Alexandra Lodge can be seen on the left with the road to Smiggins in the distance. Also the pegs for our site are visible on the road.

This is a view of Wesley Ladd, a close friend of Richard & Judith Seymour whose Holden is parked

nearby. He is checking out the pegging of the site for the building of our lodge. You can see

"our tree" referred to several times in this story just to the left of the Holden.

Ernie & Lorna, with experience from their earlier lodge, designed the original layout and, after gathering together many interested persons, the inaugural meeting of about 40 was held at Barry Hannan's house in 1960.

A draft Constitution was approved, a joining fee (later becoming shares) was set and the name "Mirrabooka", aboriginal for "Southern Cross", was chosen.

1961- The club was incorporated on 1st February 1961, the 7 applicants being Ernie Phillips, David Hurley, Janet Hurley, Justin O'Brien, H Kelly, H. Treeves and Louis Anderson.

The club was formed as a Society registered under the Co-operation Act 1923 (NSW), now the Co-Operatives Act 1992 (NSW). Such societies were formed for "promoting the economic or social interests of its members".

The initial Board of Directors chosen by members at their first meeting on 26th February 1961 comprised David Hurley, Lou Anderson, David Vincent, Mal Hussey and Margaret Ryan.

The 68 foundation members were allotted shares by the board at its meeting on 3rd September 1962. Of these 27 were employed with the Lands Department, 24 of whom described their occupation as "surveyor, cartographer, draftsman, tracer or chart corrector" and 5 were spouses of employees.

Many are still members of the Club today.

Leasing Structure And Financing

The various leases for the club site over the years have been: -

• 1. 1/1/1962 to 31/12/1981 - 20 years - initial rent = $24 p.a.Building was commenced by many clubs before formal leases were issued on the assurances of the then Kosciuszko State Park Trust.

  2. 1/1/1982 to 31/12/2001 - 20 years - initial rent = $4320 p.a.This lease gave us confidence to make some changes to the building other than just maintenance but uncertainty for the long term future cropped up so lease 3 was negotiated 6 years before the end of lease 2's term.

  3. 1/7/1995 to 31/12/2025 - 30 years - initial rent = $8400 p.a.Again future doubts were in the mind of many clubs and the organisation SLOPES, representing all 88 clubs in the area, again negotiated another renewal half way into this one and had the further options process added, making decisions much more easily achieved.

  4. 1/7/2008 to 30/6/2028 - 20 years + 3x10 yr options - initial rent $10090 p.a.This enables further plans to be considered by private clubs along with the longer term plans for the proposed Perisher Village Centre and the total Alpine Resorts Plan drafted back in 2004

It was thought that an original capital consisting of 75 members @ £25 each would be enough by using mostly voluntary labour but it was found the extra costs of building in the mountains and difficulties organising the voluntary scheme meant shares were increased to enable construction to commence to lock-up stage. The original building cost £7,271 plus a further £2,009 was anticipated needed to make ready for occupation.

Initial subscribers had therefore paid $70 for their membership (comprising 25 x £1 shares plus a further 10 x £1 in November 1962) - a total of 35 x $2 shares. They also contributed £20 ($40) by way of debentures which were all repaid by 1976, some by set-offs against annual membership fees. 20 members each gave bank guarantees of £170 and a subsequent bank loan of £3,350 (approved in 1965) enabled them to be paid back later. This brought the total raising to £7475 (just under $15,000).

For the major expansion after 1995 (which cost $370,000), members were each levied a total of $3160, and again some guaranteed funds for a short time, but the balance came out of the retained profits made over the previous three decades.

An idea of the change in values for members over the decades is listed below: -

YEAR ANNUAL WEEKLY SHARE

_______ FEE BOOKING VALUE

1962 £5.0.0 £3.10.0 £35.0.0

1973 $10 $11 $140

1986 $15 $40 $4000

1994 $20 $135 $5000

1998 $70 $150 $8500 - Levy year

2004 $77 $240 $10,000

2012 $105 $315 $13,000

Club Building Growth

Original Structure

The lodge was designed by Ernie Phillips and the drawings were signed on 4th October 1960. The building was completed under the supervision of architect member David Hurley whilst the Phillips went overseas.

The original upper floor plan shows 2 x 4 bunk and 2 x 2 bunk rooms, bathrooms, lounge, kitchen and

"passion pit" leading to stairs down to lower level. Room 4 on this plan was changed over to 2 x 2 bunk rooms about 1964 and room numbers reversed as they are today.

This is the first lower level plan which older members will remember entering, unlacing boots or slipping on elasticised

overshoes to climb stairs for forgotten items. The drying room in the centre assisted in heating the whole building.

The "suicide door" on the upper level at top of stairs was built in anticipation of the deck installation

and permitted entry after the deck was added.

Use of the suicide door made access easier when snow was well up.

This is a photo of Orana a little further up the road which, by a very amicable mutual arrangement between clubs, became our work party weekend base until Mirrabooka was habitable. It had very basic accommodation, just 2x4 bunk cubicles each with a curtain doorway for privacy but was very appreciated for eating and sleeping by the staunch volunteers.

It shows the much admired granite faced fireplace which caused the fire that burnt them to the ground during the 1964 season. Our lodge became their accommodation for work parties for a small fee of £2.10.0 per party to cover power charges when they rebuilt bigger and better premises.

The main contractors H. & H. Constructions supplied all the skilled trades, ably assisted by the volunteer work teams for muscle and labouring efforts such as back filling under the ground floor concrete slab. The girls collected stones from the creek carried up in car boots and the boys lugged Hessian bags of soil up from further down cardiac hill which was too rough for wheelbarrows. They indicated they spent almost as much time travelling down from Sydney each weekend as working on the lodge.

One of the early work parties helped fill in the foundations. The first group actually started

on the 6th January 1962 and members were credited with a free nights accommodation for each day spent on a work party.

Those present at this early stage L to R are: -Judith Seymour (Tipler at this point) inspecting her

blisters - Barry Dean - Margaret Radford (Harrington) - Sid Tipler (Judith's dad) -

Keith Smith - 1 unknown and Alan Fitzmaurice.

They are at the SW corner (currently bedroom 4), the camera looking west towards the Telemark T-Bar and this shows the continuation of the old North Perisher Road through the lodge site behind them.Other work parties included Wes Ladd (mentioned earlier) & Howard Mackenzie who was the one who nailed up individual letters spelling "Mirrabooka" to see how it looked. They stayed like that for very many years.

The contractors are progressing quickly, block work being well advanced by April 1962,

attempting to have the building waterproof before winter.

Fast progress shows framing up later in April, lock-up stage in May/June and

finished enough for rough camping visits for a weekend skiing in June of 1962.

Another work party later in 1962 having a break from internal fitting out.

From left are: - Margaret Radford - Judith Seymour (Tipler) - Graham Tipler (Judith's brother) -

Richard Seymour - Barry Dean and maybe Alan Fitzmaurice.

1962. This is the front wall almost finished with part needing another

coat of the chosen brown stain.

As mentioned, the Seymours with a group of others, tried an unofficial flying/camping weekend visit taking everything they needed by backpacking and skiing in from Smigs. It was the first use of the lodge, very little snow and no internal lining or insulation in walls. It looks like sleeping bags being aired out of the living room window wall on a sunny morning.

Much of the carpentry done in the lodge at this stage was carried out by Harold Cubitt such as all the bedroom bunks, the still-in-existence community dining table, which was and is still favoured over a series of small tables.

Judith Tipler (married Richard in April 1963) Anne Zipfinger in another late 60s

heading out for a ski in this 1962 stay, showing unpainted windows

Anne Zipfinger in another late 60s season again before the

lower concrete deck was poured or granite facing installed.

Judith and Anne were wearing the fashion of the times, long wooden straight sided skis, basket ended poles, and partly water-proof double leather lace-up boots held into side-release toe clips with spring loaded front-throw heel cable bindings. Coarse greasy wool socks did their best to keep out the cold and tucked in legs of straight stretch tight pants (a much appreciated shape sight by the boys). Unfortunately this often let in melting snow. Just putting on socks and boots took forever.

Another newly married couple, Hugh & Sue Dixon, also went down for the Easter weekend in 1962. They used a four man sled loaded with their camping gear, his 215cm and her 200cm skis and had it towed in by snowcat. They took a bucket for melting snow for water and another for the toilet plus kerosene heater and stove, left their car at Smiggins which, although draining it, still suffered a burst radiator from freezing. A great adventure for two people just starting married life.

At the 1962 AGM, motions were carried that membership be limited to 75 until the Club is operating its lodge and that members be permitted to camp in the lodge for 10/- per night.Extensive work parties continued during 1962-63 summer, enabling full scale relatively comfortable occupation to occur for the '63 season.

And the official start of Mirrabooka!

Some of you may remember the little grey ski club book subtitled "Mirrabooka Ski Club - how to look after it while you're in residence"

Improvements And Upgrades

Ernie Phillips took over from David Hurley on his return from overseas to supervise completion of the unfinished work and the book value at the first AGM in 1964 was £9295.8.1 or approx $18,600 in today's money.

1963 - In October Ron Hamblen was appointed to represent the Club at the Perisher Valley Ski Association and the system of Club captains was introduced.

1965 - The 5 year bank loan of $3250 was approved this year and an Alpine All Denominational church was proposed, just down the road - still there.

1966 - The Mirrabooka club badge was designed by Richard Seymour and agreed by directors at a meeting in June 1966. They were made available for 50c ea.The name Mirrabooka is the Aboriginal word for Southern Cross.

The Mirrabooka club badge

1967 - The Bank loan was extended to $3350 to enable the local granite stone cladding to the ground floor to be completed. A proposal for a front deck was made and the basement made into a games room. Eunice Worrall made her first visit this year.

Front of lodge after stone cladding plus a full row of gas cylinders on the

lower (railway siding) deck supplying the very necessary heating.

1968 - Deck was again deferred this year due to shortage of funds.The following year subs were increased to $20, the deck constructed and the building now had a value of $22,240. A radiogram was donated by the Phillips.

1969 - The allocation of winter accommodation for an October week totalled 9 adults and 8 children using "two beds in passion pit, two mattresses and divan".

Plan of first deck constructed in timber in 1969.

A team of "experts" Ruth & John Mattes with cross-country coach Max Evans

checking the quality of the timber deck

Some years later and another photo showing some of the later deterioration.

1970 - Your compilers both visited Mirrabooka for the first time together with Mal & David Hurley, Margaret & Brenton Hussey, close friends Ann & John Palmer and other foundation members Thora & Ron Smith.

1974 onwards had all types of comments entered alongside members'/visitors' names in the attendance book. These are well worth reading and have continuously "improved in their editorial and information content" over the decades since.

Some typical improvements early on were: -

· 1974 a tape recorder was purchased.

· 1980 a washing machine was installed.

· 1982 Storage lockers were introduced.

· 1986 a microwave was acquired.

· The club has never installed a TV or video player as in a 1995 survey before our main expansion, 65% of respondents were opposed.

1983 - The large timber windows & doors to front deck and the bathroom windows had developed dry rot and we arranged replacement with bronze anodised aluminium framed units, the making of which was part of our family's business back then.Some timber cladding was also renewed plus adding more insulation.

The first steel deck was also built a little time before this.

This is a photo of close friend David Ascroft from Dulmison lodge, who was coerced into the

job of scraping snow off the steel deck after these new doors were installed.

The left hand view in 1962 was when 2x4 & 2x2 bunk rooms existed.

The northern window changed when the lodge was modified into 4x2 and 1x4 bunks in 1964.

By 1990 these windows had developed some rot also and again we replaced them with bronze anodised aluminium framed units, this time incorporating insulating double-glass panels. The work party during the Easter weekend consisted of Marg & Harold McLean, Dixie & Bill McGregor, Paula & David Hussey and ourselves.

The right hand photo is the current layout with the new windows.

Some other snippets recorded in the 1996 Chairman's report's short history are: -

• • 1966 - Parking at Sawpit Creek was 20 cents per day

  • 1967 - A quote of $1,465 was accepted for construction of ramp and sundeck designed by Frank J Zipfinger.

  • 1969 - No 5 T-bar was converted to a duplex and Sun Valley T installed.

  • 1971 - Bert Gardiner of the Perisher Ski Patrol gave an informative talk at the Club's AGM about safety bindings.

The Major Renovations

1996 - Following clarification of lease 4 extensions the club embarked on a major renovation following a 1995 comprehensive survey of all members. This survey determined that we would not take up any of the additional beds that were offered by NPWS but remain the small 12 bed family club we grew up with as well as determining a number of other changes, most of which were included.

The building was designed by the architect, Mr Hal Pratt and built by local Cooma contractors Trinder Alpine Constructions.This upgrade cost the club $370,000 and involved levying members and borrowing from a few others. There were a few members who withdrew at this time (mainly generational change) but by far the majority saw the tremendous benefit of the changes.

LOWER FLOOR PLAN

This layout remains the same today and has been found to meet most of the members' wishes for a comfortable ski lodge.

2006 - To considerably improve the performance of the heating system it was decided to upgrade the main large living room glass wall and a high performance thermally glazed aluminium framed system was installed. This contributed to some savings in heating costs as well as being more comfortable when near the wall.

No major improvements have been made since this last one but regular upgrades are carried out to meet changing NPWS regulations and reduce energy and waste.

The current lodge entry on a bright sunny day from the S.E.

The front of the lodge viewed from the NW corner in the late 1990s, before the

window wall was upgraded as mentioned on page 15.

Some Interesting Anecdotes

Scenery Of The Mountains

One of the major features of the snow country is the vast diversity of scenic views able to be experienced in one place. This has most to do with the weather variations over the seasons.

WINTER - The major differences during the winter are due to clear skies, lovely sunny days and starry nights, then heavily overcast threatening skies, strong blustery blizzards leading to gentle falling snowflakes when the wind drops resulting in the masses of white everywhere - what skiers seek!

A brief view of some of these might whet your appetite to visit in different periods of the year.

This is a view from our side deck at dawn. The wonderful colours, icicles on

the roof and good snow on Mt Piper auger well for a great day's skiing.

Likewise a full moon on a clear night with welcoming lights below our

front deck show promise for the next day.

Gentle falling snow generally augers well for the next day. Emma Grasso,

our granddaughter, is trying to catch snowflakes with her fiancé

(now husband Robbie Meade) catching her on film.

SPRING/SUMMER

The mountainous terrain and type of flora and fauna found at these heights, the temperate weather, the occasional residual snow drift, fast running masses of snowmelt in streams and rivers, all totally different to those higher skiing areas where snow never leaves - quite different bushwalking scenes.

These shots show a few of the many large Granite boulders, in many cases buried in

snow during winter but displaying their intricate shapes during summer.

Some views of a few of the mountain's range of wildflowers widely spread

over so much of the terrain that keep bringing bushwalkers back to Kosciusko area.

The colours and textures in amongst the snow stand out much

more when you open your eyes to the great scenery around.

This is a recent photo of our own special snow gum just outside the lodge

entry being hugged by Fiona Worrall and it again covered in snow one season.

It has been photographed and sketched by many members over the 50 years.

A pair of skis and poles waiting for further use on fresh powder outside

our door during a welcome rest break which is what we all hope for each season.

Fluffy snowflakes are extremely difficult to catch as Margaret McLean (Hussey - Watson) is finding out - something about melting to the touch but again indicating another great day tomorrow.

Some pictures of the local wildlife which were taken by the

Pearl Beach Plodders on their trip in 2008 (refer page 27).

Heavy Snow Years

There have been many seasons when the snow falls have been extra kind to skiers, falling in large quantities for Australia. See copy of snow depth chart on page 38.

A few photos show some of our members experiences in these circumstances.

Mirrabooka almost totally buried requiring much scraping of decks,

cutting stairs at entrance, breaking overhang over doorway and a lot of

shovelling but great for chilling drinks.

Mirrabooka buried one such much earlier year before someone cut some

steps to get in the old entrance and somewhere the bedroom/bathroom wing is there.

This is Susan Zipfinger having trouble getting out onto the snow

You can just see "our tree" through the overhanging

roof snow, icicles and snow on deck railing? This was taken from inside the kitchen

and made it easy access for ice for drinks!

Children's Events

Mirrabooka, being mainly a family oriented ski club where most memberships are passed down to the younger generations, very often hosted many occasions where the youngsters predominated.

In the early seventies the young Cam Shannon celebrated his birthday

with 4 of his siblings plus 2 Zipfingers, 2 Manns and 2 Dixons.

At another similar season Went Mann supervised the

building of quite a large snowman with 6 youngsters.

A fatter snowman was built in the corner recess by 6 early age kids

including two Husseys (David & Andrew), two Shannons (Tony & Cecily)

and/or two McGregors (Danielle & Fiona) we think. Can you recognise any of them?

Stories of the early family get togethers during school holidays included: -

· The Zipfingers (including Frank Senior)

· The largest family, the Shannons.

· The Cubitts, the Hamblens, the Mullins, the Wallaces, the Dixons along with Max & Stephen Evans.

A much younger Fiona Worrall's first experience of sliding down snow

slopes in Smiggin Holes on her father's shoulders in the early 60s

Peter Andersen is carefully attending to early morning ablutions in the

original bathroom

Sue Zipfinger having a well earned spell on the

built-in seat which was part of the original timber deck.

Some of the persons in these photos might appear to be large for children but all of us became much younger by frequenting Mirrabooka, didn't we!

Summer Use

Bushwalkers Stories

We are aware of two major groups who have used Mirrabooka for summer bushwalking sojourns and believe several others visit the area outside the winter season, particularly over Christmas/New Year and Easter breaks.

One of these groups we can thank for supplying quite a detailed description of the other season uses came from Lois & Roger Fortescue. They had been holidaying with up to 25 participants in the Snowy Mountains for over 25 years, originally in Thredbo and more recently using Mirrabooka as base.Their typical walk limit is about 20 kms with an average more like 10 kms or less and their success is due to having a congenial group, a leader to provide the very flexible overall structure and who enjoy one another's company in the many after-dinner group activities.

Trips such as: -

• • The Main Range Walk

  • Tate East Walk

  • Dead Horse to Cascade Hut - 22 kms

  • Munyang to Horse Yards Hut/Camp - 14 kms

  • Guthega Dam to Illawong Hut - 7 kms

  • Charlottes Pass via Mt Stillwell past the ill-fated chairlift to the Alpine Way.

  • Lake Cootapatamba to Thredbo Chair - 10 kms.

The Fortescue parties have also participated in the NPWS Guided Walks that sometimes involve photography and landscape drawing training groups.

Other summer activities at Thredbo, Jindabyne and Berridale such as swimming, tennis, golf, horse riding, trout fishing, and mountain bike riding as well as boating on Lake Jindabyne or white water rafting are popular in the Kosciusko region.Various neighbouring trips can be made to the Snowy River, Tom Groggin, the Murray River, Gaden Trout Hatchery, Crakenback Resort, Dalgety etc.

Most information, including maps, is available from the NPWS offices, the Snowy Times and other bushwalking clubs publications.

The Pearl Beach Plodders

Where we live in Pearl Beach there is also a very active bush walking group who have visited many areas in several states and nearby Pacific Islands on which similar length walks can be enjoyed.They inveigled us (non walkers) into joining them on their second visit to the high country in 2008 using Mirrabooka and neighbouring Illabunda to accommodate the total group of 29 (mostly walkers) for a week in the Snowy Mountains.

Several of the photos used in other sections of this booklet come from the elaborate journals they produced for all their major sojourns. They did at least 5 major treks in that week plus a lot of happy hour and combined eating get-togethers.

These are a few plodders climbing near a waterfall, so being reasonably fit is quite

an asset for these types of visits to the mountains.

A more recent work party is checking repairs to one of the earlier lounge sections

during an Easter stay in 1990.

Not much bushwalking involved back then!

Other Harrowing Events

Access In The 1970s

Many stories were supplied about the early adventures of getting into Mirrabooka e.g.

Over night parking at Wilson's Valley

Driving up to Smiggin Holes each day with chains fitted.

Back packing, or towing sleds in from Smiggs, carrying everything needed.

Lodges all had emergency overflow accommodation, left lights on and doors unlocked at night for those who became snowed-in.

This was a typical pick up when Pioneer or Ansett Buses

were used for skiers heading into Perisher.

Early snow cat transport - This looks like the larger

cat to Charlottes Pass with luggage trailer attached.

Bus Breakdown - 1987

The ski tube was constructed between October 1984 and March 1988.By the winter of 1987 it was open from Bullocks Flat to Perisher and, as the rail section was not complete, the company ran buses through the tunnel between Perisher and Blue Cow.

Many will remember the blasting of this portion of the tunnel just under our lodge in the previous year. Thought it was an earthquake?

The McLeans and the Worralls during this season with those close friends David & Celia Ascroft, decided to visit the restaurant at Blue Cow for dinner. We had a great evening watching the groomers on the slopes but when it came time for us to leave we were advised that a truck carrying provisions for the next few days had lost a load of vegetables in the tunnel and we would have to wait until cleared for the bus to get through.

The six of us enjoying our meal and our hosts then plied us with numerous

liqueurs to ease the wait. We did get back several hours later. What a headache next day!

Another snippet of information about this tunnel is that recently, due to the proposed conversion to Torrens Title, we signed a variation to our current lease placing limits on the depth of our site as we are one of those immediately or partly above the tunnel.This applies to 6 ski lodges - Ku ring gai - Merriment - Alexandra (Transfield) - Mirrabooka - Sundeck and Cooma as well as the tows Telemark T and Pretty Valley Chairlift. Out new lot numbers are 615 & 616 on DP1085248.

Another story is that the difficulty and cost in blasting/cutting/shoring up of the tunnel between Perisher & Blue Cow used up the tunnel's budget preventing the original plan of a line all the way from Jindabyne. The Station Resort was evidently built for this purpose.

Burst Water Main - 1997

Garth & Sue Purdy tell us of the occasion one morning in August 1997 they wandered out into the kitchen for a Berocca and a cup of tea. NO WATER. They called out to other family members who confirmed the situation.

They started on melting icicles from the roof and collecting snow and melting it down on the stove, then boiling the water, putting into containers including used milk cartons from the garbage. Other lodge members responded quickly to the commotion. It takes about a garbage tin full of snow to make a cup of coffee or tea and breakfast involved the stove working very hard.

A telephone call came warning us the NPWS were keen to kick us out as a water supply pipe near No 1 T-bar had broken and repair was expected to take some days.

NO ONE AT LODGE - NO ONE TO TALK TO! Gone in 60 seconds!! We all took off skiing.

Made enquiries during the day - they would not kick us out - Perisher Blue (Kerry Packer) was not going to lose 400 skiers/lift ticket buyers - needed money for polo ponies. Back to the lodge we found cartons of large bottles of Mount Franklin Water with a note to contact someone to co-ordinate for the next few days.

Susan Parkes took on the job of listing daily needs - how much water, disposable plates, cups, knives and forks etc. Order placed - a further 5 boxes of water (4 already hidden). Well we had to wash up in it and wash ourselves.Two sacks of bowls, plates etc to each cover one day.

*#@! What about the toilets - too far down to the centre - The firemen came in with hose at the ready. They bring a wheelie bin and fill it with dirty water. A bucket arrives to "flush the dunnies" they advise. This quality water quite likely would not meet NPWS standards these days.

Showers consisted of heated Mt Franklin - into a bucket - to bathroom - tip some over your head - soap up and tip remainder over oneself.

An inspection of the broken pipe hole showed a break about 2.5 metres down and workers could only work about 10 minutes at a time before hands froze i.e. many workers taking turns.

From memory, after 5 days at Mirrabooka affected by "the coffee", they think the pipe was fixed by the Wednesday afternoon and the valley returned to normal.Since that day the Purdy's recognise Mount Franklin as "washing up water"

We are sure there are many other "other events" that could be told by several members - past and present.

Sue Purdy cooking snow The Fire boys arrive.

"EAU DE TOILETTE" water supply per fire service

Future Plans For The Area

Alpine Resorts Plan 2004

In 2001, the NSW government announced a review of the Plan of Management for Kosciusko National Park, the previous full review having occurred over 20 years before.

A team from the NPWS prepared the 2004 Draft Plan of Management and copies of the relevant documents are held in Mirrabooka Lodge.

On the Kosciusko National Park: plan of management web site there are several amendments of this draft, primarily a major change in 2006, and then implementation reports each year thereafter. See:http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/parkmanagement/KNpMgmtplan.htm

They are well worth a read by all people who frequent this wonderful area and wonder how it will progress in the years to come.

Perisher Village Centre

Recent moves to develop an around-the-year resort in Perisher Valley itself to compete with the Thredbo area are well in hand and members and hopefully visitors, will see major changes during the next few years.

Will Mirrabooka continue to grow as well? Let's all hope so.

Appendices

Major Club Officers

For the first three years (1961 to 1964) the founding managers met monthly at each other's houses whilst the lodge was constructed and the club was formed.

They were: -

David Hurley (Gen. Mgr) - David Vincent (treas') - Patti Amos (Stepp) (Sect') -Patti Cameron (bookings) - Lou Anderson - Mal Hurley (Hussey) - Margaret Ryan - Bill Coulson - Marie Thompson.

Mirrabooka started with 68 members and this number was limited to 75 until fully operational as mentioned on page 12.

The first Annual General Meeting was held on 24th October 1964. These early AGMs covered a financial year up until 1985 then changed to a calendar year thus encompassing a full ski season.

The original Directors were elected at this first AGM and the various chairmen over the years were: -

Another person we all had contact with over the years were the Booking Officers, those who managed to juggle people and beds, in the vast majority of occasions when we requested. How, only they know. They were: -

Historical Information Sources

Kosciusko Alpine Club - formed 1909

www.kac.org.au

SLOPES (Ski Lodges of Perisher, Smiggins and Guthega) - formed 1991

www.slopes.org.au

slopes.au@gmail.com

Perisher Blue - formed 1995

www.perisher.com.au/resort-information/perisher-history.php

Thredbo Historical Society - formed 1996

www.thredboskimuseum.com

National Alpine Museum (2002) - previously Mt Buller Museum - formed 1999

www.nama.org.au

Perisher Historical Society - formed 2008 - previously NSW Ski Association

www.perisherhistoricalsociety.org.au

phsadmin@primus.com.au

Refer to their Perisher Valley Timeline spanning from 1946 to 2008

International Skiing History Association - U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame

- Canadian Ski Museum and Alf Engen Ski Museum - publishers of Ski magazines.

www.skiinghistory.org